Gradually he developed an interest in medicine and moved to Columbia, South Carolina, to work as a clerk in a drug store.

Dr. Fair and his associate Dr. Hunt offered lectures in anatomy and surgical procedures leading Slomon to become one of their students.

His reputation as a skillful physician brought great demand to his services that even those living 50 miles away still requested for him.

[17] Pearson died in the Civil War when he was leading Company B of the Ninth Infantry Florida, then part of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, through a cornfield at the Battle of Globe Tavern.

After Eliza graduated she moved back to her hometown just before the burning of Columbia by William Tecumseh Sherman's Union forces on February 17, 1865.

[18] John's hometown, and Eliza's, was Orange Springs, Florida, only 30 miles north of Ocala.

In December 1885 Slomon shipped a crate of oranges to John Clayton in Liverpool, England.

[21] Slomon decided to invest all of his savings in orange cultivation but unfortunately ruined him when the Great Freeze of 1894–1895 destroyed much of the citrus crop of Florida.

The effects of the Great Freeze financially ruined Slomon as well as his health due to Bright's disease.